Happy October! I’m on an Amtrak returning from a week in Chicago where we had the first Future of Work Meeting (more on this below) and the Chamber’s annual luncheon. Thanks to everyone that attended the luncheon, especially our sponsors. It was nice to finally get to meet many of you in person. Particular thanks to our friends at Canadian Pacific.
Senate Transportation Committee Hearing Held
On Monday, the Senate Transportation Committee and Senate Executive Procurement Committee held a joint hearing on SB 1900, public-private partnerships. Chairman Villivalam said this bill provides another “tool for the toolbox.” In addition to the sponsor Senator Curran, three witnesses provided testimony. Robert Schillerstrom, Partner at IceMiller. Mary Tyler, Transportation Director at the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and Kevin Artl, President of ACEC Illinois.
Schillerstrom touted the state’s transportation advantages but said that infrastructure funding is always a matter of concern. The witness said that additional funding is needed for modern needs.
SB 1900 seeks to encourage private investment in Illinois which would create jobs while improving the state’s infrastructure. This bill lays out a framework for how the private sector can invest in the state and gives assistance to governments that would want to make a Public Private Partnership (P3) agreement.
This bill creates an Infrastructure commission to evaluate private proposals so that they appropriately benefit the state. The commission would also consider unsolicited proposals to address unknown infrastructure needs. This process is said to be transparent. The Witness said that local governments would have a greater opportunity to enact public-private-partnerships through this alternate project delivery method.
The bill also provides for a longer amortization of debt. Large infrastructure projects built today, such as toll roads, have a lifespan as long as 100 years and require a greater length of time for repayment.
Schillerstrom said not all state infrastructure projects will be the right fit for a P3 agreement. However, without SB 1900, many of the projects that would benefit from a public-private agreement will not be completed.
Tyler laid out many of the benefits of P3 agreements. P3s can attract private capital for state infrastructure when public budgets frequently face shortfalls. In addition to quicker completion and less state risk, it is assumed that private entities will use more advanced technologies to make projects more efficient. With budget shortfalls for infrastructure expected to continue, the Witness said that this bill expands the authority of local governments and state agencies to access private sector funds while maintaining proper state oversight.
Artl said that the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois supports a “renewed look” at the Illinois Public-Private Partnership for Transportation Act to make it more advantageous for private investors and state taxpayers. Development undertaken by the private sector should be those that are currently unfunded by state dollars rather than ongoing projects.
First Future of Work Task Force Meeting
The first Future of Work Task Force meeting was held this week at Olive Harvey College. Thanks to task force member, and City Colleges of Chicago chancellor, Juan Salgado for being a good host.
The committee kicked off with three speakers. The first was keynote speaker Felicia Wong of the Roosevelt Institute (named after the less cool of the two Roosevelt presidents, Franklin). The second speaker was Shelly Steward of the Aspen Institute. She was followed by Brain Fabes of the University of Chicago.
The theme of all three speakers, and of the worker panel that followed, was the plight of the low-income worker in America. Ms. Wong said post-recession nearly half the jobs created were low wage. She urged a focus on taxes to target so called “wealth hoarding”, anti-trust measures and strengthened labor laws. I’ll keep a close eye on what these exact proposals might emerge as none are the type of job creation measures supported by the Chamber. Her call to “confront large companies which create market failure” was not a rallying cry for those creating jobs.
Mr. Fabes alleges that the current labor market is broken in that it doesn’t create jobs that allow employees to move into the middle class. He had a chart showing growth in both low income (less than $32,000 annually) and high income (more than $53,000 annually) but a significant decrease of those in the middle. He also wanted employers to know that employees need more than a paycheck to show up to work. His statistic that more than 60% of the jobs done in 2018 didn’t exist in 1940 was interesting.
It’s safe to say the first meeting told an important, but skewed story. Worker satisfaction and working conditions are extremely important not just to the employee but equally to employers. I hope that future meetings will hear a different perspective: one of the great lengths employers have gone to protect their employees during a pandemic, of business owners forgoing pay to keep from furloughing employees, and of education benefits in most of corporate America that make the American Dream accessible to those that would otherwise be denied the chance to rise. If your only perspective was what we learned in the panels, you would think we were living a modern-day Charles Dickens novel, but this isn’t another Gilded Age- it is a golden age. In fact, I think if you look around, you’ll find there has never been a better time in history for the American worker. That story is the one that I hope gets told soon.
The Task Force will meet once a month from now until April. In April, the University of Chicago’s Inclusive Economy Lab, the University of Chicago Crown School of Social Work, Policy and Practice and the Metropolitan Planning council will serve as academic partners to help with the group’s report. The next meeting is scheduled for October 25th.
I’ll keep you aware of future developments.
Midwest Governors Announce Electric Vehicle Charging Partnership
Governors from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin Tuesday announced the establishment of a partnership to collaborate on electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the Midwest region, signing the Regional Electric Vehicle for the Midwest Memorandum of Understanding (REV Midwest MOU).
The goal of the REV Midwest MOU is to collectively accelerate vehicle electrification in the Midwest Region. REV Midwest will provide the foundation for cooperation on fleet electrification along key commercial corridors. The MOU also ensures the entire Midwest region is able to effectively compete for new private investment and federal funding for vehicle electrification.
Building on the advanced manufacturing, engineering, research and development, and technological expertise of the Great Lakes Region, REV Midwest will coordinate to promote clean energy and mobility manufacturing, leverage the states’ automotive industry electrification leadership, grow the region’s share of electric vehicle production, and elevate access to tools required to equip the workforce of tomorrow.
Improving access to charging infrastructure and reducing range anxiety will support EV adoption and the next generation of American-made electric automobiles. Through REV Midwest, the states will work together to remove barriers to electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDV) and enable EV charging across states by coordinating to optimize charging infrastructure, cooperate on best practices, and support standardization.
An estimated 105,000 new jobs in the utility sector are anticipated to be needed to deploy EV charging infrastructure by 2030. The states will work together with industry to understand future workforce needs and support workforce training programs to build the transportation system of the future.
The REV Midwest is a multi-state compact to develop, operate, and market our region and strategically develop an EV charging infrastructure network that works for industry and people. The network will initially focus on interstate and regionally significant commercial corridors and creating publicly accessible charging opportunities capable of serving MHDV where the Midwest can leverage our existing role as a shipping and logistics hub.
The MOU is meant to competitively position the Midwest for upcoming federal funding opportunities and create a welcoming environment for economic development and innovation around EVs, EV charging infrastructure, battery performance, and other technologies on the cutting edge of the transportation-energy sector convergence. These innovations and opportunities will be crucial to safeguard the region’s manufacturing economy in the long-term.
Brandon Road Update
Articles of Interest
Until next time,
Clark
